1.
Lone Star (1996 film)
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Lone Star is a 1996 American mystery film written and directed by John Sayles and set in a small town in Texas. The ensemble cast features Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey and Elizabeth Peña, Sheriff Sam Deeds is the county sheriff in Frontera, Texas. He was born and raised in Frontera, and returned two years ago to be sheriff, sams late father had been the legendary Sheriff Buddy Deeds, who is remembered as fair and just. Sam had problems with his father and the pair routinely fought, as a teenager, Sam had been in love with Mercedess daughter Pilar, but the courtship was strongly opposed by Buddy and Mercedes. After a chance meeting, Sam and the widowed Pilar, now a local teacher, colonel Delmore Payne has recently arrived in town as the commander of the local U. S. Army base. Delmore is the son of Otis Big O Payne, a nightclub owner. The two are estranged because of Otiss serial infidelity and abandonment of Delmores mother when Delmore was a child, relic hunters discover a human skeleton on an old shooting range along with a Masonic ring, a Rio County sheriffs badge, and a bullet not used by the military. Sam brings in Texas Ranger Ben Wetzel to help with the case, Wetzel tells Sam that forensics identify the skeleton as that of Charlie Wade, the corrupt sheriff who preceded Buddy. Wade had mysteriously disappeared in 1957, taking $10,000 in county funds, Sam investigates the events leading up to Wades murder. Wade used this method to murder Cruzs husband, Eladio, in front of Deputy Hollis, Sam travels to San Antonio, where he visits his marginally mentally ill ex-wife Bunny and searches through his fathers things, where he discovers love letters to Buddys mistress. Sam confronts Hollis and Otis about Wades murder, Wade extorted money from a young Otis for running an illegal gambling operation in the bar, then was about to use his resisting arrest setup to kill Otis. Buddy arrived just as Hollis shot Wade to prevent Otiss murder, the three buried the body and took the $10,000 from the county and gave it to Mercedes – who was destitute after Eladios recent death – to buy her restaurant. Hollis reveals that Buddy and Mercedes did not take up some time later. Sam decides to drop the issue, saying it will remain an unsolved mystery, Hollis voices concern that, when the skeleton is revealed to be Wade, people will assume Buddy killed him to take his job, to which Sam states that Buddys legend can handle it. Sam learns that Hollis and Mercedes have recruited his own deputy to run against him in the next election and he decides to not run for re-election. Sam tells Pilar that Eladio died 18 months, rather than a few weeks, Sam shows Pilar an old photo of Buddy and Mercedes, revealing that Buddy is her father. Both are hurt over the deception but decide that, since she cannot have any children, they will continue their romantic relationship. The movie was filmed in Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Laredo, the film received highly positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 43 out of 46 reviews were positive for a score of 93% and a certification of fresh

2.
John Sayles
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John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Passion Fish and his film Men with Guns has been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7, has added to the National Film Registry. Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary, a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, both of Sayless parents were of half-Irish descent and were Catholic. Like Martin Scorsese and James Cameron, Sayles began his working with Roger Corman. In 1979, Sayles used $30,000 he earned writing scripts for Corman to fund his first film, the film received near-unanimous critical acclaim at the time and has held its reputation. In 1983, after the films Baby Its You and Lianna and he put the money into the fantasy The Brother from Another Planet, a film about a black, three-toed slave who escapes from another planet and finds himself at home among the people of Harlem. In 1989, Sayles created and wrote the episode for the short-lived television show Shannons Deal about a down-and-out Philadelphia lawyer played by Jamey Sheridan. Sayles received a 1990 Edgar Award for his teleplay for the pilot, the show ran for 16 episodes before being cancelled in 1991. Sayles has funded most of his films by writing scripts, such as Piranha, Alligator, The Howling. Having collaborated with Joe Dante on Piranha and The Howling, Sayles acted in Dantes movie, in deciding whether to take a job, Sayles reports that he is interested mostly in whether there is the germ of an idea for a movie which he would want to watch. Sayles gets the rest of his funding by working as a doctor, he did rewrites for Apollo 13. A genre script, called Night Skies, inspired what would become the film E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial. That films director, Steven Spielberg, later commissioned Sayles to write a script for the fourth Jurassic Park film and he has written and directed his own films, including Lone Star, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Matewan. He serves on the board for the Austin Film Society. Maggie Renzi has been John Sayles long-time companion, but they have not married, Renzi has produced most of his films since Lianna. They met as students at Williams College, Sayles works with a regular repertory of actors, most notably Chris Cooper, David Strathairn, and Gordon Clapp, each of whom has appeared in at least four of his films. In early 2003, Sayles signed the Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience which opposed the invasion of Iraq, in February 2009, Sayles was reported to be writing an HBO series based on the early life of Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers

3.
The People vs. Larry Flynt
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Larry Flynt is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman and starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton. It chronicles the rise of pornographic magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt and his subsequent clash with religious institutions, the film was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Though not a success, the film was lauded by critics. In 1952, 10-year-old Larry Flynt is selling moonshine in Kentucky, twenty years later, Flynt and his younger brother, Jimmy, run the Hustler Go-Go club in Cincinnati. With profits down, Flynt decides to publish a newsletter for the club, the newsletter soon becomes a full-fledged magazine, but sales are weak. After Hustler publishes nude pictures of former first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Flynt becomes smitten with Althea Leasure, a stripper who works at one of his clubs. With Althea and Jimmys help, Flynt makes a fortune from sales of Hustler, with his success comes enemies - as he finds himself a hated figure of anti-pornography activists. He argues with the activists, saying that murder is illegal, however, he continues, sex is legal, but if you take a picture of that act, you can go to jail. He becomes involved in several prominent court cases, and befriends a young lawyer, in 1975, Flynt loses a smut-peddling court decision in Cincinnati but is released from jail soon afterwards on a technicality. Ruth Carter Stapleton, a Christian activist and sister of President Jimmy Carter, seeks out Flynt, Flynt seems moved and starts letting his newfound religion influence everything in his life, including Hustler content. In 1978, during trial in Georgia, Flynt and Isaacman are both shot by a man with a rifle while they walk outside a courthouse. Isaacman recovers, but Flynt is paralyzed from the waist down, wishing he was dead, Flynt renounces God. Because of the emotional and physical pain, he moves to Beverly Hills and spirals down into depression, during this time, Althea also becomes addicted to painkillers and morphine. In 1983, Flynt undergoes surgery to deaden several nerves in his back damaged by the bullet wounds and he returns to an active role with the publication, which, in his absence, had been run by Althea and Jimmy. Flynt is soon in court again for leaking videos relating to the John DeLorean entrapment case and he later wears an American flag as an adult diaper along with an army helmet, and wears T-shirts with provocative messages such as I Wish I Was Black and Fuck This Court. After spitting water at the judge Flynt is sent to a psychiatric ward, Flynt publishes a satirical parody ad in which Jerry Falwell tells of a sexual encounter with his mother. Falwell sues for libel and emotional distress, Flynt countersues for copyright infringement, because Falwell copied his ad. The case goes to trial in December 1984, but the decision is mixed, as Flynt is found guilty of inflicting emotional distress, by that time, Althea has contracted HIV, which proceeds to AIDS

4.
Fargo (film)
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Fargo is a 1996 American black comedy crime thriller film written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Fargo premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where Joel Coen won the festivals Prix de la mise en scène, a critical and commercial success, Fargo received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. McDormand received the Best Actress Oscar, and the Coens won in the Best Original Screenplay category, the American Film Institute named it one of the 100 greatest American movies of all time in 1998. A Coen-produced FX television series of the name, inspired by Fargo and taking place in the same universe. In the winter of 1987, Jerry Lundegaard, the manager at a Minneapolis Oldsmobile dealership, is desperate for money. He floated a $320,000 GMAC loan and collateralized it with nonexistent dealership vehicles, dealership mechanic and paroled ex-convict Shep Proudfoot refers Jerry to Gaear Grimsrud. Jerry pitches Gustafson a lucrative real estate deal, and he agrees to front $750,000, Jerry considers calling off the kidnapping, then learns that Gustafson plans to make the deal himself, giving Jerry a finders fee. At Jerrys home, Carl and Gaear carry out the kidnapping, as they transport Jean to their remote cabin on Moose Lake, a state trooper pulls them over outside Brainerd for driving without temporary tags. When the trooper hears a sound from the seat, Gaear kills him. The following morning, Brainerd police chief Marge Gunderson discovers that the trooper was ticketing a car with dealership plates. Later, two men driving a dealership vehicle checked into the nearby Blue Ox Motel with two girls, then placed a call to Proudfoot. After questioning the prostitutes, she drives to Gustafsons dealership, where Proudfoot feigns ignorance, while in Minneapolis, Marge reconnects with Mike Yanagita, an old classmate who tells her that his wife, another classmate, has died, and makes an awkward pass at her. Jerry informs Gustafson that the kidnappers have demanded $1 million, meanwhile, Carl, in light of the complication of three murders, demands that Jerry hand over the entire $80,000. GMAC gives Jerry 24 hours to prove the existence of the vehicles or return the loan, Carl is attacked and beaten by a furious Proudfoot for involving him in the murder investigation. Carl orders Jerry to deliver the ransom immediately, Gustafson insists on making the money drop himself. At the prearranged drop point in a Minneapolis parking garage, he tells Carl he will not hand over the money without seeing Jean, an enraged Carl shoots and kills Gustafson. After fleeing the scene, Carl is astounded to discover that the briefcase contains $1 million and he removes $80,000 to split with Gaear, then buries the rest alongside the highway. At the cabin, Gaear has killed Jean, Carl says they must split up and leave the state immediately, Marge learns that Yanagitas dead wife is not dead, nor his wife

5.
Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together

6.
Shine (film)
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Shine is a 1996 Australian biographical drama film based on the life of pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. It stars Geoffrey Rush, Lynn Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd, Nicholas Bell, Chris Haywood, the screenplay was written by Jan Sardi, and directed by Scott Hicks. The film made its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Geoffrey Rush was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1997 for his performance in the lead role. A man wanders through a heavy rainstorm finding his way into a restaurant, the restaurants employees try to determine if he needs help. Despite his manic mode of speech being difficult to understand, Sylvia learns that his name is David Helfgott and she returns him to the hotel and despite his attempts to engage her with his musical knowledge and ownership of various musical scores, she leaves. As a child, David is growing up in suburban Adelaide, South Australia, Helfgott has been taught to play by his father, Peter, a man obsessed with winning who has no tolerance for failure or disobedience. David is noticed by Mr. Rosen, a local pianist who, after a conflict with Peter. As a teen, David wins the state championship and is invited to study in America. Although plans are made to raise money to send David and his family is initially supportive, Peter eventually forbids David to leave and abuses him, crushed, David continues to study and befriends local novelist and co-founder of the Communist Party of Australia, Katharine Susannah Prichard. Davids talent grows until he is offered a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, Davids father again forbids him to go but with the encouragement of Katharine, David leaves. In London, David enters a Concerto competition, choosing to play Rachmaninoffs enormously demanding 3rd Concerto, as David practices, he increasingly becomes manic in his behavior. David wins the competition, but suffers a breakdown and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. David recovers to the point where he is able to return to Australia, David relapses and is readmitted to a mental institution as a young man. Years later, a volunteer at the institution recognizes David and knows of his musical talent and she takes him home but discovers that he is difficult to control, unintentionally destructive, and needs more care than she can offer. She leaves him at the hotel earlier in the film. David has difficulty adjusting to life outside the institution, and often away from the hotel. David wanders to the nearby restaurant, the next day David returns to the restaurant, and the patrons are astounded by his ability to play the piano. One of the owners befriends David and looks after him, in return David plays at the restaurant

7.
Scott Hicks
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Robert Scott Hicks is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, hickss work has been nominated for an Academy Award as well as winning an Emmy Award. Other movies he directed include the film adaptations of Stephen Kings Hearts in Atlantis, Hicks was born in Uganda, the son of a housewife and a civil engineer. He lived in Kenya, just outside Nairobi, until the age of ten and his family then moved, first to England and, when he was 14, on to South Australias capital, Adelaide. Scott lives with his wife and collaborator/producer Kerry Heysen in Adelaide and their two sons, Scott and Jethro, also live in Adelaide. Hicks graduated from Flinders University in South Australia in 1975 and was awarded a doctorate in 1997. He graduated into an industry which was emerging from decades of inactivity, Hicks worked as a crew member on a dozen features over the next few years. At the same time, he was successful in bidding for contracts to write and direct short dramas and he then directed 3 pivotal film clips for INXS in 1982-83 for their new label, Spy Of Love, To Look At You and Dont Change. Following this, Hicks made a film clip utilizing 16mm film, not videotape, hickss late 1983 film clip for their third single Shotdown was also showcased at the U. S. Aussie Music Festival in Los Angeles, alongside Mondo Rock and INXS videos. He is, however, best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, the AFI Awards gave it significant recognition as well, with nine nominations total. This was followed in 2001 by the adaptation of Stephen Kings novel Hearts in Atlantis starring Anthony Hopkins, after working on Hearts in Atlantis, Hicks decided to take time off and enjoy living at home. In that time, he fell into working on television commercials, Hicks also enjoyed success in the world of American television commercials – one of which was inducted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. More than six years later, Hicks resurfaced as a director in No Reservations and he followed that up with a more personal project, shooting a feature-length documentary on the iconic composer Philip Glass, glass, a portrait of Philip in twelve parts. This film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, to great acclaim and his latest project The Boys Are Back, an Australian-UK co-production which stars Clive Owen. Hicks is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hicks was a finalist in 2008 for the Australian of the Year Awards. Hicks has had his portrait painted by David Bromley several times, the 1999 portrait was a finalist for the Archibald Prize. Blue Fin Money Movers Miscellaneous Crew, The Irishman Storm Boy Scott Hicks at the Internet Movie Database LOVEFiLM Blog Scott Hicks at the London Film Festival screening of The Boys are Back

8.
Sling Blade (film)
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Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. In addition to Thornton, it stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, the movie was adapted by Thornton from his short film and previous screenplay, Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade. Sling Blade proved to be a hit, launching Thornton into stardom. It won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, the music for the soundtrack was provided by French Canadian artist/producer Daniel Lanois. Karl Childers is an intellectually disabled Arkansas man who has been in the custody of the mental hospital since the age of 12 for having killed his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, Karl is deemed fit to be released into the outside world. Prior to his release, he is interviewed by a college newspaper reporter, to whom he recounts committing the murders with a Kaiser blade, saying. I call it a kaiser blade, Karl says he thought the man was raping his mother. When he discovered that his mother was a participant in the affair. Thanks to the doctor in charge of his institutionalization, Karl lands a job at a shop in the small town where he was born. He befriends 12-year-old Frank Wheatley and shares some of the details of his past, Frank reveals that his father was killed – hit by a train – leaving him and his mother on their own. He later admits that he lied, and that his father committed suicide, Frank introduces Karl to his mother, Linda, as well as her gay friend, Vaughan Cunningham, the manager of the dollar store where she is employed. Despite Vaughans concerns about Karls history in the hospital, Linda allows him to move into her garage. Karl quickly becomes a figure to Frank, who misses his father. Karl is haunted by the given to him by his parents when he was six or eight years old to dispose of his premature, unwanted. He visits his father, who has become a mentally unbalanced hermit living in the home where Karl grew up. Karls parents performed an abortion, causing the baby to come out too soon, and Karl was given a bloody towel wrapped around the baby, which survived the abortion. Karl was instructed to get rid of it, but when Karl detected movement inside the towel, he inspected it, while recounting this story to Frank, Frank asks why Karl just didnt keep the baby, but Karl replies he had no way to care for a baby

9.
Billy Bob Thornton
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Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, filmmaker, singer, songwriter, and musician. In 2016, he starred in an Amazon original series, Goliath about a washed up attorney with a new case. He has been vocal about his disrespect for celebrity culture, choosing to keep his life out of the public eye, however, the attention of the media has proven unavoidable in certain cases, his marriage to Angelina Jolie being a notable example. Thornton has appeared in at least one film per year every year since 1991. Thornton has written a variety of films, usually set in the Southern United States and mainly co-written with Tom Epperson, including A Family Thing, after Sling Blade, he directed several other films, including Daddy and Them, All the Pretty Horses, and Jayne Mansfields Car. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award, four Golden Globes, in addition to film work, Thornton began a career as a singer-songwriter. He has released four albums and is the vocalist of a blues rock band The Boxmasters. His brother Jimmy Don wrote a number of songs, two of which Thornton has recorded on his solo albums, during his childhood, Thornton lived in numerous places in Arkansas, including Alpine, Mount Holly, and Malvern. He was raised a Methodist in a family in a shack that had neither electricity nor plumbing. He graduated from school in 1973. A good high school player, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals. After a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Department, he attended Henderson State University to pursue studies in psychology, in the mid-1980s, Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor, with future writing partner Tom Epperson. He initially had a difficult time succeeding as an actor, and worked in telemarketing, offshore wind farming and he also played drums and sang with South African rock band Jack Hammer. While Thornton worked as a waiter for an event, he served film director. Thornton struck up a conversation with Wilder, who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter, thorntons first screen role was in 1980s South of Reno, where he played a small role as a counter man in a restaurant. He also made an appearance as a store clerk in the 1987 Matlock episode The Photographer. Another one of his screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire. His role as the villain in 1992s One False Move, which he also co-wrote and he also had small roles in the 1990s films Indecent Proposal, On Deadly Ground, Bound by Honor, and Tombstone

10.
Good Will Hunting
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Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American drama film, directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver and Stellan Skarsgård. Through his therapy sessions, Will re-evaluates his relationships with his best friend, his girlfriend and himself, facing the significant task of confronting his past, the film received positive reviews and was a financial success. It grossed over US$225 million during its run with only a modest $10 million budget. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, after Williams death in 2014, it was ranked at number 53 in The Hollywood Reporters 100 Favorite Films list. When Professor Gerald Lambeau posts a difficult problem as a challenge for his graduate students, Will solves the problem anonymously. As a challenge to the genius, Lambeau posts an even more difficult problem. Will solves the problem, but then flees the scene when Lambeau catches him, at the bar, Will meets Skylar, a British student about to graduate from Harvard, who plans on attending medical school at Stanford. The next day, as Will and his friends fight a gang at the court, police arrive. Lambeau visits his court appearance and notices Wills intellect in defending himself and he arranges for him to forgo jail time if he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeaus supervision and participate in therapy sessions. Will tentatively agrees, but treats his first few therapists with mockery, in desperation, Lambeau calls on Dr. Sean Maguire, his estranged college roommate, who now teaches psychology at Bunker Hill Community College. Unlike other therapists, Sean actually challenges Wills defense mechanisms, and after a few unproductive sessions, Will begins to open up. Will is particularly struck by Seans story of how he met his wife by giving up his ticket to the game six of the 1975 World Series. Sean neither regrets his decision, nor does he regret the final years of his marriage and this encourages Will to build a relationship with Skylar, though he lies to her about his past and is reluctant to introduce her to his friends or show her his rundown neighborhood. Will also challenges Sean to take a look at his own life. Skylar asks Will to move to California with her, but he refuses and tells her he is an orphan, will breaks up with Skylar and later storms out on Lambeau, dismissing the mathematical research he has been doing. Sean points out that Will is so adept at anticipating future failure in his relationships that he deliberately sabotages them in order to avoid emotional pain. Chuckie tells Will that he disapproves of Will laying bricks for a living like the rest of his friends, will walks in on a heated argument between Sean and Lambeau over his potential. Sean and Will share and find out that they were victims of child abuse

11.
Matt Damon
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Matthew Paige Damon is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He is ranked among Forbes magazines most bankable stars and is one of the actors of all time. Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Damon began his career by appearing in high school theater productions. Damon is also known for his roles as Jason Bourne in the Bourne franchise. The latter also won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Damon has received Emmy Award nominations for his portrayal of Scott Thorson in the biopic Behind the Candelabra and for producing the reality series Project Greenlight. He also received an Oscar nomination for producing Manchester by the Sea, in addition to acting in films, Damon has performed voice-over work in both animated and documentary films and has established two production companies with Affleck. He has been involved in charitable work, including the ONE Campaign, H2O Africa Foundation, Feeding America. Damon is married to Luciana Bozán Barroso, and they have three daughters together, Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. His father has English and Scottish ancestry, and his mother is of five-eighths Finnish, Damon and his family moved to Newton for two years. His parents divorced when he was two old, and Damon and his brother returned with their mother to Cambridge, where they lived in a six-family communal house. His brother Kyle is now a sculptor and artist. As a lonely teenager, Damon has said that he felt that he did not belong, due to his mothers by the book approach to child-rearing, he had a hard time defining a self identity. He attended Cambridge Alternative School and then Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Damon performed as an actor in several high school theater productions. He credited his drama teacher, Gerry Speca, as an important artistic influence, though Ben Affleck, his friend and schoolmate, got the biggest roles. While at Harvard, he wrote a treatment of the screenplay for Good Will Hunting as an exercise for an English class. Damon was a member of the Delphic Club, one of the Universitys select Final Clubs, in 2013, he was awarded the Harvard Arts Medal. Damon received an Academy Award for the screenplay of Good Will Hunting in 1998, which was handed to him by Harvard alumnus Jack Lemmon, Damon entered Harvard in 1988, where he appeared in student theater plays, such as Burn This and A. Later, he made his debut at the age of 18

12.
Ben Affleck
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Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt is an American actor and filmmaker. Born in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he acting as a child. He later appeared in the independent coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused and various Kevin Smith films including Chasing Amy, Affleck gained recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damon won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. He then established himself as a man in studio films including the disaster drama Armageddon, the war epic Pearl Harbor. After a career downturn, during which he appeared in Daredevil and Gigli, Afflecks directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, which he also co-wrote, was well received. He then directed, co-wrote, and starred in the crime drama The Town. For the political thriller Argo, which he directed and starred in, Affleck won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Director, and the Golden Globe, BAFTA and he starred in the psychological thriller Gone Girl. In 2016, Affleck began playing Batman in the DC Extended Universe, Affleck is the co-founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, a grantmaking and advocacy-based nonprofit organization. He is also a member of the Democratic Party. His younger brother is actor Casey Affleck, with whom he has worked on films including Good Will Hunting. Following high-profile relationships with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez, Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005, Affleck and Garner have three children together, and announced their separation in 2015. Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15,1972 in Berkeley and his family moved to Massachusetts when he was two, living in Falmouth, where his brother Casey was born, before settling in Cambridge. His mother, Christopher Anne Chris, was a Radcliffe College- and his father, Timothy Byers Affleck, worked sporadically as an auto mechanic, a carpenter, a bookie, an electrician, a bartender, and a janitor at Harvard University. In the mid-1960s, he had been an actor and stage manager with the Theater Company of Boston, during Afflecks childhood, his father had a self-described severe, chronic problem with alcoholism and Affleck has recalled him drinking all day, every day. His parents divorced when he was 12, and he and his brother lived with their mother. In the following years, his fathers life hit the skids, when Affleck was 16, his father moved to Indio, California to enter a rehabilitation facility and, after gaining sobriety, worked as an addiction counselor at the facility for many years. Affleck was raised in an active, liberal household. He and his brother were surrounded by people who worked in the arts, were taken to the theater by their mother

13.
Boogie Nights
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Boogie Nights is a 1997 American drama film written, produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is an expansion of Andersons mockumentary short film The Dirk Diggler Story and it stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy and Heather Graham, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11,1997 and was released on October 10,1997, and garnered critical acclaim. It was also nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Anderson, Best Supporting Actress for Moore, the films soundtrack also received acclaim. In 1977, Eddie Adams is a high-school dropout living with his stepfather and emotionally abusive, alcoholic mother in Torrance, after having an argument with his mother about his girlfriend and sex life, Adams moves in with Horner at his San Fernando Valley home. Adams gives himself the screen name Dirk Diggler, and becomes a star because of his looks, youthful charisma. His success allows him to buy a new house, a wardrobe. With friend and fellow porn star Reed Rothchild, Dirk pitches a series of successful action-themed porn films, Dirk works and socializes with others from the porn industry, and they live carefree lifestyles in the late 1970s disco era. Dirk and Reed begin using cocaine, due to Dirks drug use, he finds it increasingly difficult to achieve an erection, falls into violent mood swings and becomes upset with Johnny Doe, a new leading man Jack recruited. In 1983, after having an argument with Jack, Dirk is fired, and he and Reed leave to start a rock and roll career along with Scotty, a boom operator who loves Dirk. One of these projects involves Jack and Rollergirl riding in a limousine, when one man recognizes Rollergirl as a former high-school classmate, he insults her and Jack, who both attack and leave the injured man on the sidewalk as the crew drives away. Leading lady Amber Waves, who took Dirk under her wing when he joined Jacks stable of actors, the court determines she is an unfit mother, due to her involvement in the porn industry, prior criminal record and cocaine addiction. Buck Swope marries fellow porn star Jessie St. Vincent, who becomes pregnant, because of his past, Buck is disqualified from a bank loan and cannot open his own stereo-equipment store. That night, he himself in the middle of a holdup in which the clerk, the robber. Buck escapes with the money that the robber demanded, having squandered their money on drugs, Dirk and Reed cannot pay a recording studio for demonstration tapes they believe will enable them to become music stars. Desperate for money, Dirk resorts to prostitution, but is assaulted and robbed by three men, Dirk, Reed and their friend Todd attempt to scam drug dealer Rahad Jackson, by selling him a half-kilo of baking soda as cocaine. Dirk and Reed decide to leave before Rahads bodyguard inspects it, but Todd fails to steal money from Rahad, Dirk and Amber prepare to start filming again. Boogie Nights is based on a short film that Anderson made while he was still in high school called The Dirk Diggler Story

14.
Paul Thomas Anderson
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Paul Thomas Anderson also known as P. T. Interested in film-making since a young age, Anderson was encouraged by his father to become a filmmaker, in 1993, he wrote and directed a short film titled Cigarettes & Coffee on a budget of $20,000. After he attended the Sundance Institute, Anderson had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first feature film, Anderson received critical and commercial success for his film Boogie Nights, set during the Golden Age of Porn in the 1970s and 1980s. His third feature, Magnolia, takes place over a day in the San Fernando Valley, following the interconnected lives of several characters in search of happiness. It received strongly positive reviews despite struggling at the box office, in 2002, the romantic comedy-drama Punch-Drunk Love, Andersons fourth feature, was released to generally favorable reviews. The epic drama There Will Be Blood, set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, released after a five-year absence, it garnered wide acclaim from critics. Andersons sixth film, the drama The Master, was released to critical acclaim and his seventh film, the crime comedy-drama Inherent Vice, based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon, was released in 2014, to general acclaim. His eighth film, Junun, is a documentary about the making of an album of the same name, Anderson has been nominated for six Academy Awards over the course of his career, while his works have earned a further fourteen Academy Award nominations for cast and crew. There Will Be Blood has been named by critics as the best film of the 2000s. It later ranked, along with The Master and Inherent Vice, Anderson was born June 26,1970, in Studio City, California, to Edwina and Ernie Anderson. Ernie was an actor who was the voice of ABC and a Cleveland television late-night horror movie host known as Ghoulardi, Anderson grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He is third youngest of nine children, and had a relationship with his mother but was close with his father. Anderson attended a number of schools, including Buckley in Sherman Oaks, John Thomas Dye School, Campbell Hall School, Cushing Academy, Anderson was involved in filmmaking at a young age and never really had an alternative plan to directing films. He made his first movie when he was eight years old and he later started using 8 mm film but realized that video was easier. He began writing in adolescence, and at 17 years old he began experimenting with a Bolex sixteen millimeter camera. After years of experimenting with standard fare, he wrote and filmed his first real production as a senior in school at Montclair Prep using money he earned cleaning cages at a pet store. Feeling that the material shown to him at film school turned the experience into homework or a chore, the film was screened at the 1993 Sundance Festival Shorts Program. He decided to expand the film into a film and was subsequently invited to the 1994 Sundance Feature Film Program

15.
The Full Monty
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The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy-drama film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy, Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they will go the full monty—strip all the way—hence the films title. Despite being a comedy, the film touches on serious subjects such as unemployment, fathers rights, depression, impotence, homosexuality, body image, working class culture. The Full Monty was a critical success upon release and an unexpected international commercial success. It was the film in the UK until it was outsold by Titanic. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Music Score, the film was later adapted into a musical in 2000, and a play in 2013. The once-successful steel mills of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, have shut down, former steel workers Gary Gaz Schofield and Dave Horsefall have resorted to stealing scrap metal from the abandoned mills to sell. Gaz is facing trouble from his wife, Mandy and her boyfriend Barry over child support payments that he has failed to make since losing his job. Gazs son, Nathan, loves his father but wishes they could do more normal stuff in their time together, one day, Gaz spots a crowd of women lined up outside a local club to see a Chippendales striptease act. He gets the idea to form his own strip tease group using local men in hopes of making money to pay off his child support obligations. The first to join the group is Lomper, a security guard at the mill where Dave. Depressed, Lomper attempts suicide, but is rescued by Dave who convinces him to join the group, next, they recruit Gerald Cooper, their former foreman at the mill, who is hiding the fact that he is unemployed from his wife. Gaz and Dave see Gerald and his wife, Linda, at a dance class and recruit him to teach them some actual dance moves. The four men hold an audition to recruit more members and settle on Horse, an older man who is nevertheless a good dancer, and Guy. The six men begin to practice their act, Gaz then learns that he has to pay £100 in order to secure the club for the night. He cannot afford this, but Nathan gets the money out of his savings, when they are greeted by two local women while they put up posters for the show, Gaz boasts theyre better than the real Chippendales because they go the full monty. Dave drops out due to body image issues and gets a job as a security guard at Asda. The others do a public rehearsal at the mill in front of female relatives of Horse, but are caught mid-show by a passing policeman

16.
Mrs Brown
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Mrs Brown, also theatrically released as Her Majesty, Mrs Brown, is a 1997 British drama film starring Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher, and Gerard Butler in his film debut. It was written by Jeremy Brock and directed by John Madden, the film was produced by the BBC and Ecosse Films with the intention of being shown on BBC One and on WGBHs Masterpiece Theatre. However, it was acquired by Miramax and released to unexpected success, the film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Dench was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, several screens of text giving some background are shown before a bust is shown flying over a palace wall and shattering into countless pieces. The film shows the story of a bereaved Queen Victoria and her relationship with a Scottish servant, John Brown, in 1863, hoping to subtly coax the Queen toward resuming public life after years of seclusion, Mr Brown is summoned to court. Brown takes considerable liberties with court protocol, especially by addressing Her Majesty as woman and he also quickly takes control over the Queens daily activities, further aggravating the tensions between himself and the royal family and servants. The moniker Mrs Brown, used both at the time and in the film, implied an improper, and perhaps sexual, as a result of Victorias virtual recluse, especially at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her popularity begins failing and republican sentiment begins growing. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli has a hold over the House of Commons. He persuades Brown to use his influence with the Queen to persuade her to return to the performance of her public duties, Brown is reluctant to do so, rightly fearing that Victoria will take this as a personal betrayal. When Brown urges Victoria to return to London and fulfill her public duties, feeling betrayed by Brown, the Queen becomes enraged. When Brown once again refers to her as woman, she rebukes him. Leaving the room, she turns to Ponsonby and Jenner requesting that they serve her needs, clearly reducing Mr Browns contact and their relationship was never to be the same again. The Queens eventual acquiescence and her decision to return to public life eventually leads to a revitalisation of her popularity, Brown continues to serve Queen Victoria until his death in 1883. In his final years, his duties become reduced to head of security, the palace staff has become weary of Browns dogmatic ways and they mock and rebuke his security efforts as paranoid delusions. Finally, during an event, a gun-wielding assassin appears out of the crowd leaping toward the royal family. An ever-vigilant Brown successfully thwarts the assassination attempt, at dinner the next evening, the Prince of Wales retells the story, bragging to their dinner companions that he had been the one to warn Brown of the assassin. Seeing through her sons bragging, the Queen announces instead that a medal for bravery. Some years later, Brown becomes gravely ill with pneumonia after chasing through the woods late at night searching for a possible intruder, hearing of Browns illness, the Queen visits his room and is visibly shaken to see her old friend so ill

17.
Titanic (1997 film)
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Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Camerons inspiration for the film came from his fascination with shipwrecks, production began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes on the vessel were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. Scale models, computer-generated imagery, and a reconstruction of the Titanic built at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California were used to re-create the sinking, the film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. It was the most expensive film made at time, with an estimated budget of $200 million. Upon its release on December 19,1997, Titanic achieved critical and commercial success, with an initial worldwide gross of over $1.84 billion, Titanic was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark. It remained the highest-grossing film of all time until Camerons 2009 film Avatar surpassed it in 2010. A 3D version of Titanic, released on April 4,2012 to commemorate the centennial of the sinking, earned it an additional $343.6 million worldwide and it became the second film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide. In 2015, Titanic Live, an orchestra version of the film. In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team aboard the research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh search the wreck of RMS Titanic for a necklace with a rare diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. They recover a safe containing a drawing of a woman wearing only the necklace dated April 14,1912. Rose Dawson Calvert, the woman in the drawing, is brought aboard Keldysh, in 1912 Southampton, 17-year-old first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater, her fiancé Cal Hockley, and her mother Ruth board the luxurious Titanic. Ruth emphasizes that Roses marriage will resolve their familys financial problems, distraught over the engagement, Rose considers suicide by jumping from the stern, Jack Dawson, a penniless artist, intervenes and discourages her. Discovered with Jack, Rose tells a concerned Cal that she was peering over the edge, when Cal becomes indifferent, she suggests to him that Jack deserves a reward. He invites Jack to dine with them in first class the following night, Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, despite Cal and Ruth being wary of him. Following dinner, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in third class, aware of Cal and Ruths disapproval, Rose rebuffs Jacks advances, but realizes she prefers him over Cal. After rendezvousing on the bow at sunset, Rose takes Jack to her room, at her request, Jack sketches Rose posing nude wearing Cals engagement present. They evade Cals bodyguard and have sex in an automobile inside the cargo hold, on the forward deck, they witness a collision with an iceberg and overhear the officers and designer discussing its seriousness

18.
James Cameron
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James Francis Jim Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer. He first found success with the science fiction action film The Terminator. He then became a popular Hollywood director and was hired to write and direct Aliens and he found further critical acclaim for his use of special effects in Terminator 2, Judgment Day. After his film True Lies Cameron took on his biggest film at the time, Titanic, despite Avatar being his only movie made to date in 3D, Cameron is the most successful 3D film-maker in terms of box-office revenue. In the time between making Titanic and Avatar, Cameron spent several years creating many documentary films and co-developed the digital 3D Fusion Camera System, described by a biographer as part scientist and part artist, Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies. On March 26,2012, Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench and he is the first person to do this in a solo descent, and is only the third person to do so ever. In total, Camerons directorial efforts have grossed approximately US$2 billion in North America, not adjusted for inflation, Camerons Titanic and Avatar are the two highest-grossing films of all time at $2.19 billion and $2.78 billion respectively. Cameron also holds the achievement of having directed two of the three films in history to gross over $2 billion worldwide, in March 2011, he was named Hollywoods top earner by Vanity Fair, with estimated 2010 earnings of $257 million. Cameron was born in 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley, an artist and nurse, and Phillip Cameron and his paternal great-great-great-grandfather emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1825. Cameron grew up in Chippawa, Ontario, and attended Stamford Collegiate School in Niagara Falls and his family moved to Brea, California in 1971, when Cameron was 17 years old. He dropped out of Sonora High School, then attended Brea Olinda High School to further his secondary education, Cameron enrolled at Fullerton College, a two-year community college, in 1973 to study physics. He switched to English, then dropped out before the start of the fall 1974 semester, next, he worked several jobs, including as a truck driver, writing when he had time. That way I could sit down and read it, and if theyd let me photocopy it, Cameron quit his job as a truck driver to enter the film industry after seeing Star Wars in 1977. When Cameron read Syd Fields book Screenplay, it occurred to him that science and art was possible. They raised money, rented camera, lenses, film stock and they dismantled the camera to understand how to operate it and spent the first half-day of the shoot trying to figure out how to get it running. He was the director, writer, producer, and production designer for Xenogenesis and he then became a production assistant on a film called Rock and Roll High School, though uncredited, in 1979. While continuing to educate himself in film-making techniques, Cameron started working as a miniature-model maker at Roger Corman Studios, making rapidly produced, low-budget productions taught Cameron to work efficiently and effectively. He soon found employment as an art director in the sci-fi movie Battle Beyond the Stars and he did special effects work design and direction on John Carpenters Escape from New York, acted as production designer on Galaxy of Terror, and consulted on the design of Android

19.
Pleasantville (film)
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Pleasantville is a 1998 fantasy comedy-drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Gary Ross, and co-produced by Jon Kilik, Bob Degus, and Steven Soderbergh. It stars Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, J. T. Walsh, and Reese Witherspoon, with Don Knotts, Paul Walker, and Jane Kaczmarek in supporting roles. The story centers around two siblings who wind up trapped in a 1950s TV show, set in a small Iowa town, in their attempts to get comfortable, the two become more aware of social issues such as racism and freedom of speech. The film was released in the United States by New Line Cinema on October 23,1998. It was a box office bomb, only acquiring about $49.8 million of a $60 million budget, but received positive reviews for its visuals, acting, the film was J. T. Walshs final performance, and was dedicated to his memory. David and his twin sister Jennifer lead very different high-school social lives, Jennifer is shallow and extroverted, David is introverted and spends most of his time watching television. One evening while their mother is away, they fight over the TV, Jennifer wants to watch a concert on MTV, but David wants to watch a marathon of Pleasantville, a black and white 1950s sitcom about the idyllic Parker family. During the fight, the remote control breaks, and the TV cannot be turned on manually, a mysterious TV repairman shows up, quizzes David about Pleasantville, then gives him a strange remote control. The repairman leaves, and David and Jennifer resume fighting, however, they are transported into the Parkers black and white Pleasantville living room. David tries to reason with the repairman, but he succeeds only in chasing him away, David and Jennifer must now pretend they are Bud and Mary Sue Parker, the son and daughter on the show. David and Jennifer witness the wholesome nature of the town, such as a group of firemen rescuing a cat from a tree. David tells Jennifer they must stay in character and not disrupt the lives of the towns citizens, to keep the shows plot, Jennifer dates a boy from high school but has sex with him, a concept unknown to him and everyone else in town. Slowly, Pleasantville begins changing from black and white to color, including flowers, David introduces Mr. Johnson, owner of the burger joint/soda fountain where Bud works, to colorful modern art via a book from the library, sparking in him an interest in painting. Johnson and Betty Parker fall in love, causing her to home, throwing George Parker, Bud and Mary Sues father. The only people who remain unchanged are the fathers, led by the mayor, Big Bob. They resolve to do something about their increasingly independent wives and rebellious children, as the townsfolk become more colorful, a ban on colored people is initiated in public venues. Eventually, a riot is touched off by a painting of Betty on the window of Mr. Johnsons soda fountain. The soda fountain is destroyed, books are burned, and people who are colored are harassed in the street

20.
American History X
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The film was released in the United States on October 30,1998 and was distributed by New Line Cinema. The film tells the story of two brothers from Venice, Los Angeles who become involved in the neo-Nazi movement, the older brother serves three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, changes his beliefs and tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path. The film is told in the style of nonlinear narrative, made on a budget of $20 million, the film grossed $24 million at the worldwide box office. Critics mostly praised the film and Nortons performance, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, in September 2008, Empire magazine named it the 311th Greatest Movie of All Time. High school student Danny Vinyard receives an assignment from his history teacher Mr. Murray to write a paper on any book which relates to the struggle for human rights, knowing Murray is Jewish, Danny writes his paper on Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf. A few years prior, Danny and Dereks father Dennis Vinyard was murdered by drug dealers after being sent on a call to fight a fire in a drug den. In a television interview conducted after Denniss death, Derek erupts in a long racist tirade, shortly thereafter, Cameron Alexander and Derek form a white supremacist gang called the D. O. C. As a skilled player, Derek is reluctantly dragged into a 3-on-3 game against several members of the Crips in which the prize is control of the recreation center basketball courts. After winning with his friends, Derek leads a gang of skinheads to attack a supermarket owned by a Korean that included African-American. Dereks mother Doris invites Murray, whom she is dating, home for dinner, Derek is given a job in the prison laundry and assigned to be the partner of Lamont, a black man who is serving six years for the putative assault of a police officer. The pair later develop a rapport from their love of basketball. Derek joins the Aryan Brotherhood, but after about a year, as punishment, he is restrained, beaten, and sodomised in the shower by the Aryan Brotherhood members, Derek recovers and is visited by Sweeney, whom he asks for help to be paroled. Sweeney informs him of Dannys involvement with neo-Nazis, and warns that he is on the path as Derek. Derek further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and spends the remainder of his time in prison alone, finally realizing the error of his ways, Derek leaves prison a changed man. Upon arriving home, he finds that Danny has a D. O. C, tattoo and tries to persuade him to leave the gang. After leaving the party, Derek tells Danny about his experience in prison, the next morning, Danny finishes his paper, which reflects on why he had adopted Nazi values and why they were deeply flawed. Derek gets ready for a meeting with his parole officer, Derek walks Danny to school before his meeting, and on their way they stop at a diner. Sweeney and a police officer tell Derek that his friend Seth Ryan, Derek arrives at the school and mourns for Danny

21.
Central Station (film)
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Central Station is a 1998 Brazilian–French drama film set in Brazil. It tells the story of a young boys friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman, the film was adapted by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein from a story by Walter Salles, who directed it. It features Fernanda Montenegro and Vinícius de Oliveira in the major roles, the films title in Portuguese is the name of Rio de Janeiros main railway station. Montenegros performance earned her acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination. The film itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Dora is a retired schoolteacher who has become embittered. She works at Rio de Janeiros Central Station, writing letters for illiterate customers and she can be impatient with her customers and sometimes does not mail the letters that she writes, putting them in a drawer or even tearing them up. Josué is a poor 9-year-old boy who has never met his father, but hopes to do so. His mother sends letters to his father through Dora, saying that she hopes to reunite with him soon, but when she is killed in a bus accident just outside the train station, the boy is left homeless. Dora takes him in and traffics him to a corrupt couple, Dora is initially reluctant to be responsible for the boy, but ends up deciding to take a trip with him to Northeast Brazil in order to find his fathers house and leave him there. Dora tries to leave Josué on the bus, but he follows her, penniless, they are picked up by a kind, Evangelical truck driver who abandons them when Dora encourages him to drink beer and then grows too friendly. Dora trades her watch for a ride to Bom Jesus do Norte, with no money, Josué saves them from destitution by suggesting Dora write letters for the pilgrims who have arrived in Bom Jesus for a massive pilgrimage. This time she posts the letters and they take the bus to the settlements, but when they locate the address they have for Josués father, they are told by the new residents that he no longer lives there and has disappeared. Josué tells Dora that he wait for him, but Dora invites him to live with her. She calls Irene in Rio and asks her to sell her refrigerator, sofa and she says that she will call when she gets settled somewhere. After she hangs up, she learns there are no buses leaving until the next morning. Isaías, one of Josués half-brothers, is working on a next to the bus stop. After introducing himself, Dora says that she is a friend of his father and was in the area, Isaías insists that she and Josué, who, suspicious of the stranger, has introduced himself as Geraldo, come to dinner. They return to his house, where they meet Moisés, the other half-brother, Isaías asks Dora to read a letter that his father wrote to Ana when he disappeared, six months ago, in case she returned

22.
Walter Salles
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Walter Moreira Salles, Jr. is a Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence. Salles attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and he is the son of Brazilian banker, politician and philanthropist Walter Moreira Salles. Salless first notable film was Terra Estrangeira, released in Brazil in 1995, locally, it was widely acclaimed by film critics and a minor box-office hit, and it was selected by over 40 film festivals worldwide. In 1998 he released Central do Brasil to widespread international acclaim, Salles won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Brazilian to win a Golden Globe. In 2001, Abril Despedaçado, starring Rodrigo Santoro, was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Golden Globes, both films were produced by veteran Arthur Cohn and had worldwide distribution. In 2003, Salles was voted one of the 40 Best Directors in the World by The Guardian and his biggest international success has been Diarios de Motocicleta, a 2004 film about the life of young Ernesto Guevara, who later became known as Che Guevara. It was Salless first foray as director of a film in a other than his native Portuguese and quickly became a box-office hit in Latin America. In 2005, Salles released his first Hollywood film, Dark Water and he also helped to produce the Argentine picture Hermanas which was a major success. In 2006, Salles wrote and directed a segment in the French film Paris, the film is a collection of 18 shorter segments made by different 21 directors and set in different arrondissements of Paris. Salles segment called Loin du 16e and took place in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, in 2007, Salles took part in a similar project called To Each His Own Cinema in the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. He made a 3-minute segment called A8944 km de Cannes, in 2008, Salles wrote and directed the film Linha de Passe also with Daniela Thomas. It is a story about four brothers from a family who need to fight to follow their dreams. He was nominated for the Golden Palm and Sandra Corveloni won the best actress award for her role in film in Cannes Film Festival in 2008. In 2012 Salles released José Riveras screenplay adaptation of Jack Kerouacs On the Road, the film was nominated for the Palme dOr at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. com Walter Salles interviewed by Michael Ordoña for the San Francisco Chronicle

23.
Saving Private Ryan
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Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war drama film set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II. It follows United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller and a squad as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, who is the last-surviving brother of four servicemen. The film received acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast. The film grossed US$481.8 million worldwide, making it the film of the year. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, Spielbergs direction won his second Academy Award for Best Director, Saving Private Ryan was released on home video in May 1999, earning another $44 million from sales. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed culturally, historically, in the late 1990s, an elderly World War II veteran and his family visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy, France. The veteran walks around the cemetery and, upon seeing one specific gravestone, collapses to his knees, on the morning of June 6,1944, the beginning of the Normandy Invasion, American soldiers prepare to land on Omaha Beach. They suffer heavily from their struggle against German infantry, machine gun nests, after the battle, the body of a dead soldier lying face down on the beach, with S. Ryan stenciled on the back of his pack, is shown. Meanwhile, in Washington, D. C, at the U. S, War Department, General George Marshall is informed that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family were killed in action and that their mother is to receive all three telegrams on the same day. He learns that the son, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, is a paratrooper and is missing in action somewhere in Normandy. Marshall, after reading Abraham Lincolns Bixby letter, orders that Ryan must be found, three days after D-Day, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back from the front. He assembles six men from his company—T/Sgt, Miller and his men move out to Neuville, there, they meet a squad from the 101st Airborne Division. Caparzo dies after being shot by a sniper, eventually, they locate a Private James Ryan, but soon learn that he is not their man. They find a member of Ryans regiment who informs them that his drop zone was at Vierville, once they reach it, Miller meets a friend of Ryans, who reveals that Ryan is defending a strategically important bridge over the Merderet River in the fictional town of Ramelle. On the way to Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position, no longer confident in Millers leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert the squad and the mission, prompting a confrontation with Horvath. The argument heats up until Miller defuses the situation by disclosing his background in civilian life, Reiben then reluctantly decides to stay. Upon arrival at Ramelle, Miller and the squad come upon a group of paratroopers. Ryan is told of his brothers deaths, the mission to bring him home, and that two men had been lost in the quest to find him

24.
Shakespeare in Love
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For the theatre adaptation, see Shakespeare in Love. Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman, the film depicts an imaginary love affair involving Viola de Lesseps and playwright William Shakespeare while he was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on figures, and many of the characters, lines. Shakespeare in Love won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, in 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlains Men and poor playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Shakespeare is working on a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, suffering from writers block, he has barely begun the play, but starts auditioning players. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a merchant, who has seen Shakespeares plays at court, disguises herself as Thomas Kent to audition. Shakespeare pursues Kent to Violas house and leaves a note with the nurse and he sneaks into the house with the minstrels playing that night at the ball, where her parents are arranging her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an impoverished aristocrat. While dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless, and after being ejected by Wessex. Wessex also asks Wills name, to which he replies that he is Christopher Marlowe, when he discovers her true identity, they begin a secret affair. Inspired by her, Shakespeare writes quickly, with help from his friend and rival playwright Christopher Kit Marlowe, completely transforming the play into what will become Romeo, then, Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage to Lord Wessex. Shakespeare accompanies her, disguised as her female cousin, there, he persuades Wessex to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the exact amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlains Men. Queen Elizabeth I declares that she will judge the matter when the occasion arises. When Richard Burbage, owner of the Curtain, finds out that Shakespeare has cheated him out of money and the play, he goes to the Rose Theatre with his Curtain Theatre Company. The Rose Theatre company drives Burbage and his out and then celebrate at the local pub. Viola is appalled when she learns Shakespeare is married, albeit separated from his wife, will discovers that Marlowe is dead, and thinks he is to blame. Lord Wessex suspects an affair between Shakespeare and his bride-to-be, because Wessex thinks that Will is Kit Marlowe, he approves of Kits death, and tells Viola the news. It is later learned that Marlowe had been killed in an accident, Viola finds out that Will is still alive, and declares her love for him. When Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels, is informed there is a player at The Rose

25.
Tom Stoppard
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Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE FRSL is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter, knighted in 1997. He co-wrote the screenplays for Brazil, The Russia House, and Shakespeare in Love, themes of human rights, censorship and political freedom pervade his work along with exploration of linguistics and philosophy. Stoppard has been a key playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation, in 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 11 in their list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture. Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard left as a refugee, fleeing imminent Nazi occupation. He settled with his family in Britain after the war, in 1946, after being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire, Stoppard became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright. He has been married three times, to Josie Ingle, then Miriam Stoppard, and Sabrina Guinness, Stoppard was born Tomáš Straussler, in Zlín, a shoe town, in the Moravia region of Czechoslovakia. He was the son of Martha Becková and Eugen Straussler, a doctor with the Bata shoe company, both of his parents were non-observant Jews, part of a long-established community. Just before the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the patron, Jan Antonín Baťa, helped re-post his Jewish employees, mostly physicians. On 15 March 1939, the day that the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, before the Japanese occupation of Singapore, the two sons and their mother were sent on to Australia. Stoppards father remained in Singapore as a British army volunteer, knowing that, as a doctor and his father died when Stoppard was four years old. From there, in 1941, when Tomas was five, the three were evacuated to Darjeeling in India, the boys attended Mount Hermon School, an American multi-racial school, where Tomas became Tom and his brother Petr became Peter. In 1945, his mother Martha married British army major Kenneth Stoppard, setting up Stoppards desire as a child to become an honorary Englishman. I fairly often find Im with people who forget I dont quite belong in the world were in, he says. I find I put a foot wrong – it could be pronunciation, a bit of English history – and suddenly Im there naked, as someone with a pass. This is reflected in his characters, he notes, who are constantly being addressed by the name, with jokes. Stoppard attended the Dolphin School in Nottinghamshire, and later completed his education at Pocklington School in East Riding, Yorkshire, which he hated. Stoppard left school at seventeen and began work as a journalist for the Western Daily Press in Bristol, never receiving a university education, having taken against the idea. Years later he came to not going to university, but at the time he loved his work as a journalist

26.
The Sixth Sense
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The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural horror-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the public to his traits. Released by Hollywood Pictures on August 6,1999, the film was received well, critics highlighted the performances, its atmosphere, the film was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, grossing about $293 million domestically and $672 million worldwide. Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist in Philadelphia, returns one night with his wife, Anna. Anna tells Crowe that everything is second to his work, a young man then appears in their bathroom, and accuses Crowe of failing him. Crowe recognizes him as Vincent Grey, a patient whom he treated as a child for hallucinations. Vincent shoots his former doctor before killing himself, the next fall, Crowe begins working with another patient, nine-year-old Cole Sear, whose case is similar to Vincents. Crowe becomes dedicated to the boy, though he is haunted by doubts over his ability to him after his failure with Vincent. Meanwhile, he and his wife seldom, if ever, speak or do anything together, Crowe feels he must help Cole in order to rectify his failure to help Vincent and reconcile with his wife. Coles mother, Lynn worries about his stamina, especially after seeing signs of physical abuse. Cole eventually confides his secret to Crowe, he sees ghosts, at first, Crowe thinks Cole is delusional and considers dropping his case. Remembering Vincent, the psychologist listens to an audiotape from a session with Vincent when he was a child, on the tape, when Crowe leaves the room, Vincent begins crying. Turning up the volume, Crowe hears a man begging for help in Spanish, and now believes that Cole is telling the truth. He suggests to Cole that he should try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts, at first, Cole is unwilling since the ghosts terrify and sometimes even threaten him, but he finally decides to attempt helping. Cole talks to one of the ghosts, a girl named Kyra who recently died after a chronic illness. He goes with Crowe to her reception at her home, where Kyra directs him to a box holding a videotape. The tape shows Kyras mother poisoning her daughters food, by proving she was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, Cole has saved Kyras younger sister, the mothers next victim

27.
M. Night Shyamalan
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Manoj M. Night Shyamalan is an Indian-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. His other films include The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender and he is also known for producing Devil, as well as being instrumental in the creation of the Fox science fiction series Wayward Pines. Shyamalan is also known for filming and setting his films in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised, most of his commercially successful films were co-produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios Touchstone and Hollywood film imprints. In 2008, Shyamalan was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India, Shyamalan was born in Mahé, a town in the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. The son of Indian parents, his father, Nelliate C, Shyamalan, is a Malayali from Mahé and graduated with a medical degree from JIPMER, while his mother, Jayalakshmi, is a Tamil Indian who is an obstetrician and gynecologist by profession. Shyamalan spent his first six weeks in Puducherry, and then was raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania and he attended the private Roman Catholic grammar school Waldron Mercy Academy, followed by the Episcopal Academy, a private Episcopal high school located at the time in Merion, Pennsylvania. Shyamalan earned the New York University Merit Scholarship in 1988, Shyamalan is an alumnus of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, in Manhattan, graduating in 1992. It was while studying there that he adopted Night as his second name, Shyamalan had an early desire to be a filmmaker when he was given a Super 8 camera at a young age. Though his father wanted him to follow in the practice of medicine. By the time he was seventeen, the Steven Spielberg fan had made forty-five home movies, on each DVD release of his films, he has included a scene from one of these childhood movies, which he feels represents his first attempt at the same kind of film. Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical drama Praying with Anger, while still a student at NYU, using money borrowed from family and he wrote and directed his second movie, Wide Awake. His parents were the associate producers. The drama dealt with a ten-year-old Catholic schoolboy who, after the death of his grandfather, the films supporting cast included Dana Delany and Denis Leary as the boys parents, as well as Rosie ODonnell, Julia Stiles, and Camryn Manheim. Wide Awake was filmed in a school Shyamalan attended as a child and earned 1999 Young Artist Award nominations for Best Drama, only in limited release, the film grossed $305,704 in theaters, against a $6 million budget. That same year Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay for Stuart Little with Greg Brooker, in 2013, he revealed he was the ghostwriter for the 1999 film Shes All That, a teen comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachel Leigh Cook. However, this statement has come into question as the screenwriter for the film. In July 2000, on The Howard Stern Show, Shyamalan said he had met with Steven Spielberg and was in talks to write the script for the fourth Indiana Jones film. This would have given Shyamalan a chance to work with his longtime idol, after the film fell through, Shyamalan later said it was too tricky to arrange and not the right thing for him to do

28.
American Beauty (1999 film)
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American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a 42-year-old advertising executive who has a crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenaged daughters best friend. Annette Bening co-stars as Lesters materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, and Allison Janney also feature. Ball began writing American Beauty as a play in the early 1990s and he shelved the play after realizing the story would not work on stage. After several years as a screenwriter, Ball revived the idea in 1997 when attempting to break into the film industry. The modified script had a cynical outlook that was influenced by Balls frustrating tenures writing for several sitcoms, producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen took American Beauty to DreamWorks, the then-fledgling film studio bought Balls script for $250,000, outbidding several other production bodies. DreamWorks financed the $15 million production and served as its North American distributor, principal photography took place between December 1998 and February 1999 on soundstages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, and on location in Los Angeles. Mendes dominant style was deliberate and composed, he made use of static shots and slow pans. Cinematographer Conrad Hall complemented Mendes style with peaceful shot compositions to contrast with the turbulent on-screen events, during editing, Mendes made several changes that gave the film a less cynical tone than the script. Released in North America on September 17,1999, American Beauty was positively received by critics, reviewers praised most aspects of the production, with particular emphasis on Mendes, Spacey, and Ball, criticism focused on the familiarity of the characters and setting. It was nominated for and won other awards and honors, mainly for the direction, writing. Lester Burnham is an advertising executive and magazine writer who despises his job. He is unhappily married to Carolyn, a neurotic yet fiercely ambitious real estate broker who grows red roses in their yard, their daughter, Jane. His job as a part-time bar caterer serves as a front for his secret marijuana dealings, Frank is a strict disciplinarian who previously sent Ricky to a military school and briefly committed him to a psychiatric hospital. Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, a gay couple who live nearby, on the way to school, Frank reveals his homophobia while he angrily discusses the incident with Ricky. Lester becomes infatuated with Janes vain friend, Angela Hayes, after seeing her perform a dance routine at a high school basketball game with Jane. He starts having sexual fantasies about Angela, in red rose petals are a recurring motif. Carolyn begins an affair with her married business rival, Buddy Kane, when Lesters boss and efficiency expert, Brad, tells him that he is to be laid off, Lester instead blackmails him for $60,000 and quits his job

29.
Alan Ball (screenwriter)
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Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre. Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and his older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13, he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta, and went on to attend the University of Georgia and Florida State University, after college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida. Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the situation comedies Grace Under Fire, Ball has written two films, American Beauty and Towelhead, the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and he was showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons. In 2010 Ball began work on an adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston. In December 2010, after months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production on All Signs of Death. He is also one of the producers of the Cinemax series Banshee. In January 2015, it was announced that Balls period musical drama Virtuoso had had a pilot ordered by HBO, the pilot will be executively produced by Elton John. Confirmed actors to be starring in the show include Peter Macdissi, Iva Babic, Francois Civil, Lindsay Farris, Nico Mirallegro, Ball has discussed his Buddhist faith in numerous interviews, noting how it has influenced his film making. In an interview with Amazon. com, Ball commented on the scene in American Beauty with the plastic bag, stating. And I didnt have a camera, like Ricky does. Theres a Buddhist notion of the miraculous within the mundane, and I think we live in a culture that encourages us not to look for that. Ball has also discussed how his Buddhism has shaped themes in Six Feet Under, Ball is gay and has been called a strong voice for LGBT community. In 2008 he made Out magazines annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women and he lives in Los Angeles with his partner, Peter Macdissi, who has starred in several of Balls works. Alan Ball at TV. com Alan Ball at the Internet Movie Database Alan Ball at the Internet Off-Broadway Database Alan Ball interview video at the Archive of American Television

30.
Being John Malkovich
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Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, both making their feature film debut. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, with John Malkovich, the film follows a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovichs mind. Released by USA Films, the film was nominated in three categories at the 72nd Academy Awards, Best Director for Jonze, Best Original Screenplay for Kaufman, Craig Schwartz is an unemployed puppeteer in a forlorn marriage with his pet-obsessed wife Lotte. Gaining a file clerk job through Dr. Craig enters a door hidden behind a filing cabinet. Craig is able to observe and sense whatever Malkovich does for fifteen minutes before he is ejected and dropped into a ditch near the New Jersey Turnpike and he reveals the portal to Maxine and they let others use it for $200 a turn. Craig tells Lotte, who becomes obsessed with the experience, allowing her to out her transgender desires. Lotte becomes attracted to Maxine and they begin a relationship via Lotte being inside Malkovichs head while Maxine has sex with Malkovich. Craig, forsaken by both women, binds and gags Lotte and locks her in a cage, then enters Malkovichs mind and has sex with Maxine, Craig discovers that he is able to control Malkovichs actions while in his head, causing the actor to become paranoid. He is ejected and meets Craig by the turnpike, Malkovich demands that the portal be closed, but Craig refuses. Lotte escapes with the help of the animals in the cage and phones Maxine, Maxine is annoyed but accepts it as she enjoyed the experience. Seeking help, Lotte finds Lester, who reveals himself to be Captain Mertin and he is aware of the portal and has a room dedicated to Malkovich. Lester explains that the connected to it becomes ripe for occupation on the eve of their 44th birthday. However, after the old host turns 44, the moves to its next host. The former allows one to increase their life before moving on to another host while the means being trapped within the unborn child. Lester, who has been using the portal to prolong his life, reveals his plan to use Malkovich for himself, offered the chance to join Lesters group, Lotte warns him that Craig has control. Craig finds he is able to remain in Malkovich indefinitely and he spends the next eight months in Malkovichs body, and through his control turns Malkovich into a world-famous puppeteer. Malkovich marries Maxine and learns that she is pregnant as their relationship grows distant, as Malkovichs 44th birthday approaches, Lester and his friends cut a deal with Maxine and fake her kidnapping. They call up Craig threatening to kill her if Craig does not leave Malkovich, Craig ends the call, causing Lester to think that he called their bluff

31.
Charlie Kaufman
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Charles Stuart Charlie Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and he made his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York, which was also well-received, film critic Roger Ebert named it the best movie of the decade in 2009. He also won two BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplays and one BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, three of Kaufmans scripts appear in the Writers Guild of Americas list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written. Kaufman was born in New York City to a Jewish family on November 19,1958 and he grew up in Massapequa, New York before moving to West Hartford, Connecticut where he graduated high school. While attending high school, Kaufman was part of the drama club, performing in numerous productions before landing the lead role in a production of Play It Again. After high school graduation, Kaufman attended Boston University before transferring to New York University where he studied film, while attending New York University, Kaufman met Paul Proch, with whom he would write many unproduced scripts and plays. Between 1983 and 1984, Kaufman and Proch wrote comedic articles and his work included parodies of Kurt Vonnegut and the X-Men. Kaufman and Proch tried to get their screenplays produced, sending them to people in film industry. The only response the two ever received for their work was a letter from Alan Arkin in regards to their screenplay titled Purely Coincidental. In hope of finding talent agents the two began to write scripts for television series such as Married. In 1991, Kaufman moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in search of job prospects. Kaufman got his start in television by writing two episodes for Chris Elliotts Get a Life during the 1991–1992 season, during the 1993–1994 season, Kaufman worked on Foxs sketch comedy show The Edge. Kaufman wrote some pilot scripts while working as a television writer and he later worked as a writer for Ned and Stacey and The Dana Carvey Show. He first came to notice as the writer of Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze, earning an Academy Award nomination for his effort. He wrote the script on spec in 1994, sending it to companies and studios. Kaufman and Jonze reunited yet again as the director screenwriter respectively for Adaptation, Adaptation featured a fictionalized version of Kaufman and his fictional brother, Donald, who is credited as writer of the film along with Kaufman. The idea came to Kaufman while attempting to adapt Susan Orleans novel The Orchid Thief into film, struggling with writers block, Kaufman turned the script into an exaggerated account of his struggles with adapting the screenplay. The film focuses on Barriss claim to have been a CIA hit man and it was George Clooneys directorial debut

32.
Magnolia (film)
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Magnolia is a 1999 American ensemble drama film written, co-produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film stars Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ricky Jay, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards and Melora Walters, and is a mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley. Of the ensemble cast, Tom Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 72nd Academy Awards, the film also won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was Robards final feature film, following the films release, Anderson said, I really feel. That Magnolia is, for better or worse, the best movie Ill ever make, the narrator recounts three instances of incredible coincidences and suggests that forces greater than chance play important roles in life. Police officer Jim Kurring investigates a disturbance at a womans apartment, Dixon, a neighborhood boy, tries to tell him who committed the murder but Jim is dismissive. Jim goes to the apartment of Claudia Wilson, Claudias neighbors called the police after she had an argument with her estranged father, childrens game show host Jimmy Gator, and then blasted music while snorting cocaine. Unaware of her addiction, Jim is attracted to her and prolongs the visit and he asks her on a date that night, she says yes. Jimmy hosts a quiz show called What Do Kids Know. and is dying of cancer. That night the newest child prodigy on the show, Stanley Spector and he is hounded by his father for the prize money and demeaned by the surrounding adults, who refuse to let him use the bathroom during a commercial break. When the show resumes, he himself and freezes, humiliated when everyone realizes what happened. As the show continues an inebriated Jimmy sickens, and he orders the show to go on after he collapses onstage, but after Stanleys father berates him for freezing on air, Stanley refuses to return for the final round. Donnie Smith, a former What Do Kids Know. champion, donnies parents spent the money he won as a child, and he has been fired from his job at Solomon & Solomon, an electronics store, due to chronic lateness and poor sales. He is obsessed with getting oral surgery, thinking he will land the man of his dreams after he gets braces and he hatches a plan to get back at his boss by stealing the money he needs for his braces. The shows former producer, Earl Partridge, is dying of cancer. Earls trophy wife, Linda, collects his prescriptions for morphine while he is cared for by a nurse, Earl asks Phil to find his estranged son, Frank Mackey, a motivational speaker peddling a pick-up artist course to men. Frank is in the midst of an interview with a journalist who reveals that she knows Frank had to care of his dying mother after Earl abandoned the family

33.
Three Kings (1999 film)
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Three Kings is a 1999 American satirical black comedy war film written and directed by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley. The film was released on October 1,1999 in the United States and it received critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $107 million on a $48 million budget. Following the end of the Persian Gulf War, U. S. soldiers are sent over to clean up loose ends, the soldiers are bored over the lack of action and as a result throw parties at night. While disarming and searching an Iraqi officer, U. S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Troy Barlow, his best friend Private First Class Conrad Vig, Troy goes to Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin to help translate the map. Major Gates appears, after tracking down a lead from Adriana, Archie convinces them that the document is a map of bunkers near Karbala, containing gold bullion stolen from Kuwait, which they decide to steal. To keep Adriana off his back, Gates sends Specialist Walter Wogeman to aid her on a false lead and they set off the next day and, among other goods plundered from Kuwait, find the gold, and stumble on the interrogation of Amir Abdullah. As they are leaving, Amirs wife pleads with them not to abandon the anti-Saddam dissidents, the group decides to free the Iraqi prisoners, triggering a firefight. They pull out just as Iraqi reinforcements arrive, and as they try to evade a CS gas attack, they blunder into a minefield, Iraqi soldiers capture Troy while a group of rebels rescue the other Americans and take them to their underground hideout. There, Conrad, Chief and Archie agree to help the rebels, Troy gets taken back to the bunker, and is thrown in a room full of Kuwaiti cell phones. He manages to call his wife home and tells her to report his location to his local Army Reserve unit. His call is cut short when he is dragged to a room where he is interrogated by Iraqi Captain Saïd. The Americans with the go to a band of Iraqi Army deserters. The cars are outfitted as Saddams entourage, in a ruse to scare away the bunkers defenders, after storming the bunker, they free Troy, who spares Saïd, and find more Shiite dissidents held in a dungeon. A few of the soldiers who ran away return, and shoot Conrad, Conrad dies, and Troys lung is punctured, but he survives. Archie radios Walter and Adriana and arranges transport, while the officers in the camp try to locate the trio after getting the message from Troys wife. Each of the rebels is given a bar of gold and the rest is buried as they wait for the transport to arrive, the convoy goes to the Iranian border, where the three Americans intended escort the rebels across to protect them from the Iraqi soldiers guarding the crossing. But the American officers arrive and stop the group, arresting the trio while the rebels are recaptured, Archie proffers the buried gold to the American officers in exchange for letting the refugees through. The commanding officer acquiesces to assisting the rebels get into Iran, but still states that charges and courts-martial will be convened against Archie, Troy, and Chief Elgin

34.
David O. Russell
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David Owen Russell is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His early directing career includes the comedy films Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, Russell received his seventh Golden Globe nomination for the semi-biographical comedy-drama Joy. Russell was born in Manhattan, to Maria and Bernard Russell and his parents worked for Simon & Schuster, his father was the vice president of sales for the company and his mother was a secretary there. His father was from a Russian Jewish family and his mother was Italian American, russells maternal grandparents were Frank Muzio, born in Craco, and Philomena Brancata, born in Ferrandina, both in the province of Matera. His paternal grandfather, a butcher from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Russell was raised in Larchmont, New York, in an atheist, middle-class household. When he was 13, he made his first film for a school project and he attended Mamaroneck High School, where he was voted Class Rebel. He fell in love with film in his teens but aspired to become a writer, Russell started a newspaper in high school and his parents worked for a publishing company, so he grew up in a household filled with books and novels. Russell received his A. B. degree from Amherst College and he wrote his senior thesis on the United States intervention in Chile from 1963 to 1973. After graduating from Amherst, Russell traveled to Nicaragua and taught in a Sandinista literacy program and he worked manual labor jobs, including waitering, bartending, and catering. Some of his colleagues included members of the Blue Man Group. He worked for an association and later became a community organizer in Maine. He used video equipment to document slums and bad housing conditions, Russell was a political activist and canvassed and raised money in neighborhoods, he also did community work in Bostons South End. In addition to working in several day jobs, he began to write short films, Russell directed a documentary about Panamanian immigrants in Boston, which led to a job as a production assistant on a PBS series called Smithsonian World. In 1987, Russell wrote, produced, and directed Bingo Inferno, A Parody on American Obsessions, two years later, he made another short titled Hairway to the Stars, which featured Bette Davis and William Hickey. Both shorts were shown at the Sundance Film Festival, after Russell made an award-winning short film for a Boston television station, he received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Instead of the money going towards a feature about a fortune cookie writer, he decided to make Spanking the Monkey, as a result, Russell had to return the funds to the NEA. Spanking the Monkey, the 1994 independent dark comedy, was his first directorial effort, the film was produced by Dean Silvers, and starred Jeremy Davies as a troubled young man and Alberta Watson as his lonely mother. His next project was the Miramax comedy Flirting with Disaster, his collaboration with Dean Silvers

35.
John Ridley
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John Ridley IV is an American screenwriter, film director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the acclaimed anthology series American Crime. He has two sisters and is the middle sibling, Ridley graduated from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin in 1982. He enrolled in Indiana University but transferred to New York University, following college, Ridley performed standup comedy in New York City, with appearances on a David Letterman late-night talk show and The Tonight Show. Moving to Los Angeles in 1990, he began writing for television sitcoms as Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Ridley went on to write the novels Love Is a Racket and his novel Spoils of War was adapted into the 1999 David O. Russell-directed Three Kings. His other novels are The Drift, Those Who Walk in Darkness and he also wrote the graphic novel The American Way. His work as screenwriter also includes 12 Years a Slave, Red Tails and his script for 12 Years a Slave won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, making Ridley the second African-American to win the award after Geoffrey S. Fletcher. As of April 2015, he was developing an ABC television series involving an existing Marvel Comics character, Love Is a Racket, A Novel. New York, Alfred A. Knopf,1999, a Conversation with the Mann, A Novel. ISBN 978-0-446-53093-4 Ridley, John, and Patricia R. Floyd, Prince Frederick, MD, Recorded Books,2011,2007. ISBN 978-1-456-10151-0 Ridley, John, and Ben Oliver, the Authority, Human on the Inside. La Jolla, CA, WildStorm Productions,2004, Ridley, John, Georges Jeanty, and Karl C. La Jolla, Calif, WildStorm/DC Comics,2007, the Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American Nigger. Esquire, December 2006, Volume 146, Issue 6, Ridley is married to wife Gayle, a former script supervisor. Gennusa, Chris R. John Ridley, Burnt Noir. Winter 1997, v.4 n.4, pp. 33–38 Archived pages of official site, December 1,2006 – March 1,2007, January 8 – April 12,2007. John Ridley at the Internet Movie Database

36.
A Walk on the Moon
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A Walk on the Moon is a 1999 drama film starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin. The movie, which was set against the backdrop of the Woodstock festival of 1969, the film was highly acclaimed on release, particularly Diane Lanes performance for which she earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. Pearl Kantrowitz and her husband Marty are a middle class Jewish couple in New York City. Marty is forced to away from home and hence, he only visits the family on weekends. This leaves Pearl feeling lonely and isolated, Pearl got pregnant at the age of 17 and she feels she missed enjoying her youth. With the absence of Marty, Pearl is attracted to the new Blouse Man Walker Jerome, meanwhile, Alison is neglected and she experiences her first period, her first date, and her first kiss as she enters a relationship with another boy at the camp, Ross Epstein. Marty is unable to visit the family because he has to repair more TV sets than usual, while the whole town celebrates the historic moonwalk, Pearl has sex with Walker. Martys mother Lillian learns of the affair and tries to persuade Pearl to break it off, the affair continues when Marty cannot get up to visit on the weekend because of the traffic jam caused by the Woodstock festival, which is within walking distance of the bungalow colony. Pearl goes to the festival, and unbeknownst to her, Alison goes as well with Ross, Alison becomes upset after seeing Pearl and Walker carousing while on LSD. Marty learns of the affair and confronts Pearl while Alison confronts her mother in an emotional scene, Pearl is forced to deal with her love of her family and her conflicting yearning for marital freedom. Pearl finally makes her decision to stay with Marty and tells Walker she cannot go away with him, the final scene shows Pearl and Marty dancing together, first to Dean Martins When Youre Smiling and then to Jimi Hendrixs Purple Haze, after Marty changes the station. The Rotten Tomatoes website found that 72% of critics gave the film a positive review, Diane Lanes performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. Entertainment Weekly ranked it #9 on their 50 Sexiest Movies Ever poll, a Walk on the Moon at the Internet Movie Database A Walk on the Moon at Rotten Tomatoes A Walk on the Moon at Box Office Mojo

Lone Star (1996 film)
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Lone Star is a 1996 American mystery film written and directed by John Sayles and set in a small town in Texas. The ensemble cast features Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey and Elizabeth Peña, Sheriff Sam Deeds is the county sheriff in Frontera, Texas. He was born and raised in Frontera, and returned two years ago to be sheriff,

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Theatrical release poster

John Sayles
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John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Passion Fish and his film Men with Guns has been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7, has

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John Sayles, March 2008

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Sayles at the Miami Book Fair International 2011

The People vs. Larry Flynt
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Larry Flynt is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman and starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton. It chronicles the rise of pornographic magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt and his subsequent clash with religious institutions, the film was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Though n

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Theatrical release poster

Fargo (film)
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Fargo is a 1996 American black comedy crime thriller film written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Fargo premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where Joel Coen won the festivals Prix de la mise en scène, a critical and commercial success, Fargo received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. McDormand r

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Theatrical release poster

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Fargo/Barton Fink: Music by Carter Burwell

Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, d

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Ethan Coen (left) and Joel Coen at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival

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Ethan and Joel Coen at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.

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With Javier Bardem at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Shine (film)
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Shine is a 1996 Australian biographical drama film based on the life of pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. It stars Geoffrey Rush, Lynn Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd, Nicholas Bell, Chris Haywood, the screenplay was written by

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The original film poster

Scott Hicks
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Robert Scott Hicks is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, hickss work has been nominated for an Academy Award as well as winning an Emmy Award. Other movies he directed include the film adaptations of Stephen Kings Hearts in Atlantis, Hicks was born in Uganda, the son of a housew

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Hicks at the Australian premiere of The Lucky One

Sling Blade (film)
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Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. In addition to Thornton, it stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, the movie was adapted by Thornton from his short film and previous screenplay, Some Fol

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Theatrical release poster

Billy Bob Thornton
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Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, filmmaker, singer, songwriter, and musician. In 2016, he starred in an Amazon original series, Goliath about a washed up attorney with a new case. He has been vocal about his disrespect for celebrity culture, choosing to keep his life out of the public eye, however, the attention of the media has proven unav

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Thornton receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 6, 2012

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Thornton at the South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2008

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Thornton at a San Francisco concert in 2007

Good Will Hunting
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Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American drama film, directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver and Stellan Skarsgård. Through his therapy sessions, Will re-evaluates his relationships with his best friend, his girlfriend and himself, facing the significant task of confronting his past, the film receiv

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Theatrical release poster

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"How do ya like them apples?" The Baskin-Robbins / Dunkin' Donuts, in front of which Will mocked Harvard student Clark

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The Au Bon Pain where Skylar asked Will to explain his " photographic memory " to her

Matt Damon
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Matthew Paige Damon is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He is ranked among Forbes magazines most bankable stars and is one of the actors of all time. Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Damon began his career by appearing in high school theater productions. Damon is also known for his roles as Jason Bourne in the Bourne

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Damon at Toronto International Film Festival, September 2015

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Damon and paparazzo Rino Barillari at Rome in 1999

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Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Damon, Andy García and Julia Roberts (the cast of Ocean's Eleven), with director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

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Damon and Robert De Niro at Berlin in February 2007 for the premiere of The Good Shepherd

Ben Affleck
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Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt is an American actor and filmmaker. Born in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he acting as a child. He later appeared in the independent coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused and various Kevin Smith films including Chasing Amy, Affleck gained recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damo

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Theo Chocolate, stocked by Whole Foods, is made with Congolese cocoa beans

Boogie Nights
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Boogie Nights is a 1997 American drama film written, produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is an expansion of Andersons mockumentary short film The Dirk Diggler Story and it stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy and Heather Graham, the film premiered at the Toronto Interna

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Theatrical release poster

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Boogie Nights helped establish Wahlberg as a film actor; he was previously only known as the frontman of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch

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Reynolds received over ten accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. In addition, he won the Golden Globe Award for his performance

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Moore received nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance

Paul Thomas Anderson
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Paul Thomas Anderson also known as P. T. Interested in film-making since a young age, Anderson was encouraged by his father to become a filmmaker, in 1993, he wrote and directed a short film titled Cigarettes & Coffee on a budget of $20,000. After he attended the Sundance Institute, Anderson had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first

The Full Monty
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The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy-drama film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy, Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they will go the full monty—strip al

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US release poster

Mrs Brown
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Mrs Brown, also theatrically released as Her Majesty, Mrs Brown, is a 1997 British drama film starring Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher, and Gerard Butler in his film debut. It was written by Jeremy Brock and directed by John Madden, the film was produced by the BBC and Ecosse Films with the intention of being shown on BBC O

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Original UK theatrical poster

Titanic (1997 film)
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Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance-disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Camerons inspiration for the film came from his fascination with shipwrecks, production began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes on the vessel were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav K

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Theatrical release poster

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The real Margaret Brown (right) giving Captain Arthur Henry Rostron an award for his service in the rescue of Titanic ‍ '​s surviving passengers.

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The reconstruction of the RMS Titanic. The blueprints were supplied by the original ship's builder and Cameron tried to make the ship as detailed and accurate as possible.

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Close-up shot of Cameron's nude Rose sketch with the " Heart of the Ocean ". The nude scene was one of the first scenes shot as the main set was not yet ready.

James Cameron
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James Francis Jim Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker, director, producer, screenwriter, inventor, engineer, philanthropist, and deep-sea explorer. He first found success with the science fiction action film The Terminator. He then became a popular Hollywood director and was hired to write and direct Aliens and he found further critical acclaim for his

American History X
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The film was released in the United States on October 30,1998 and was distributed by New Line Cinema. The film tells the story of two brothers from Venice, Los Angeles who become involved in the neo-Nazi movement, the older brother serves three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, changes his beliefs and tries to prevent his brother from goi

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Theatrical release poster

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Edward Norton 's performance was critically lauded and he went on to receive multiple accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor

Central Station (film)
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Central Station is a 1998 Brazilian–French drama film set in Brazil. It tells the story of a young boys friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman, the film was adapted by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein from a story by Walter Salles, who directed it. It features Fernanda Montenegro and Vinícius de Oliveira in the major roles, the films t

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Theatrical release poster

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Estação Central do Brasil, the most famous and important railway station in Brazil. Also served as the setting and title of the famous film.

Walter Salles
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Walter Moreira Salles, Jr. is a Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence. Salles attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and he is the son of Brazilian banker, politician and philanthropist Walter Moreira Salles. Salless first notable film was Terra Estrangeira, released in Brazil in 1995, lo

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Salles at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival showing of On the Road

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Salles in 2005

Saving Private Ryan
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Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war drama film set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II. It follows United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller and a squad as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, who is the last-surviving brother of four servicemen. The film received acclaim, winning se

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Theatrical release poster

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The opening and closing scenes of the film are set in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.

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Saving Private Ryan was noted for its recreation of the Omaha Beach landings.

Shakespeare in Love
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For the theatre adaptation, see Shakespeare in Love. Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman, the film depicts an imaginary love affair involving Viola de Lesseps and playwright William Shakespeare while he was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on

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Theatrical release poster

Tom Stoppard
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Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE FRSL is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter, knighted in 1997. He co-wrote the screenplays for Brazil, The Russia House, and Shakespeare in Love, themes of human rights, censorship and political freedom pervade his work along with exploration of linguistics and philosophy. Stoppard has been a key playwright of t

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Stoppard at a reception in Russia, 2007

The Sixth Sense
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The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural horror-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and intro

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Theatrical release poster

M. Night Shyamalan
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Manoj M. Night Shyamalan is an Indian-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. His other films include The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender and he is also known for producing Devil, as well as being instrumental in the creat

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Shyamalan at a press conference for The Happening in 2008.

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M. Night Shyamalan and Mark Wahlberg (right) at the presentation of the film The Happening in Madrid.

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M. Night Shyamalan and Bryce Dallas Howard at the Spanish premiere of The Village (in the San Sebastián International Film Festival, 2006).

American Beauty (1999 film)
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American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a 42-year-old advertising executive who has a crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenaged daughters best friend. Annette Bening co-stars as Lesters materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their inse

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The aerial shots of the Burnhams' neighborhood at the beginning and end of the film were captured above Sacramento, California.

Alan Ball (screenwriter)
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Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre. Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and his older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13, he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta, and went on t

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Alan Ball in 2008

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Ball with True Blood star Anna Paquin in July 2012

Being John Malkovich
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Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, both making their feature film debut. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, with John Malkovich, the film follows a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovichs mind. Released by USA Films, the fil

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Theatrical release poster

Charlie Kaufman
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Charles Stuart Charlie Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and he made his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York, which was also well-received, film critic Roger Ebert named it the best movie of the decade in 2009.

Three Kings (1999 film)
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Three Kings is a 1999 American satirical black comedy war film written and directed by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley. The film was released on October 1,1999 in the United States and it received critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $107 million on a $48 million budget. Following the end of the Persian Gulf War, U.

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Theatrical release poster

David O. Russell
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David Owen Russell is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His early directing career includes the comedy films Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, Russell received his seventh Golden Globe nomination for the semi-biographical comedy-drama Joy. Russell was born in Manhattan, to Maria and Bernard Russell and h

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Russell at the Paris premiere of American Hustle, February 2014

John Ridley
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John Ridley IV is an American screenwriter, film director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the acclaimed anthology series American Crime. He has two sisters and is the middle sibling, Ridley graduated from Homestead High Sch

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John Ridley at the Stockholm Film Festival in 2013.

A Walk on the Moon
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A Walk on the Moon is a 1999 drama film starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin. The movie, which was set against the backdrop of the Woodstock festival of 1969, the film was highly acclaimed on release, particularly Diane Lanes performance for which she earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead